DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR FRIDAY DECEMBER 4:
WORD OF WISDOM
Make others want to know God because of you.
___
DAILY DEVOTION
Prayer Makes the Difference
"Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God
for him by the church...."
(Acts 12:5, NKJV)
King Herod hated believers so much that he had the apostle James killed,
then he had Peter put in prison. With chains on both wrists, Peter was
guarded by four squads of soldiers to make sure he didn't escape. Today's
Scripture says the church was in prayer constantly for Peter, asking God to
somehow bring him out. While they were praying in the middle of the night,
an angel showed up in the prison and woke Peter up. He was sleeping, not
praying, but he had friends who were praying. The chains fell off Peter's
wrists, and they walked past two guard posts and the prison's iron gate
opened on its own accord. Peter's life was spared.
Are you praying for others? All of your family members, friends, and
relatives should be like Peters. Cover them in prayer. When you pray, Red
Seas part, hungry lions can't open their mouths, cancer is overcome,
blessings rain down. Your prayer can bring an angel.
A Prayer for Today
"Father, thank You that when I pray, something powerful happens,
supernatural things take place. Help me to develop a habit of praying for
others and be patient and stay faithful when I don't see anything happening.
I believe that my prayers make a difference. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
___
DAILY BIBLE READING
2 Corinthians 1-4 New King James Version (NKJV)
Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our
brother,
To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all
Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Comfort in Suffering
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation,
that we may be able to comfort those who are in any [a]trouble, with the
comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as the
sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our [b]consolation also abounds
through Christ. 6 Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and
salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also
suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7
And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers
of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.
Delivered from Suffering
8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our [c]trouble which
came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so
that we despaired even of life. 9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in
ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the
dead, 10 who delivered us from so great a death, and [d]does deliver us; in
whom we trust that He will still deliver us, 11 you also helping together in
prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on [e]our behalf for
the gift granted to us through many.
Paul's Sincerity
12 For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we
conducted ourselves in the world in [f]simplicity and godly sincerity, not
with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.
13 For we are not writing any other things to you than what you read or
understand. Now I trust you will understand, even to the end 14 (as also you
have understood us in part), that we are your boast as you also are ours, in
the day of the Lord Jesus.
Sparing the Church
15 And in this confidence I intended to come to you before, that you might
have a second benefit- 16 to pass by way of you to Macedonia, to come again
from Macedonia to you, and be helped by you on my way to Judea. 17
Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I
plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes,
Yes, and No, No? 18 But as God is faithful, our [g]word to you was not Yes
and No. 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by
us-by me, Silvanus, and Timothy-was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. 20
For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of
God through us. 21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has
anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our
hearts as a guarantee.
23 Moreover I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came
no more to Corinth. 24 Not that we [h]have dominion over your faith, but are
fellow workers for your joy; for by faith you stand.
Paul Urges Forgiveness
2 But I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in
sorrow. 2 For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but
the one who is made sorrowful by me?
Forgive the Offender
3 And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, I should have
sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you
all that my joy is the joy of you all. 4 For out of much [i]affliction and
anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be
grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for
you.
5 But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to
some extent-not to be too severe. 6 This punishment which was inflicted by
the majority is sufficient for such a man, 7 so that, on the contrary, you
ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be
swallowed up with too much sorrow. 8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your
love to him. 9 For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the
test, whether you are obedient in all things. 10 Now whom you forgive
anything, I also forgive. For [j]if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have
forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 11 lest Satan
should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.
Triumph in Christ
12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a
[k]door was opened to me by the Lord, 13 I had no rest in my spirit, because
I did not find Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I departed for
Macedonia.
14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and
through us [l]diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For
we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and
among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death
leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And
who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, as [m]so many,
peddling[n] the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak
in the sight of God in Christ.
Christ's Epistle
3 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others,
epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? 2 You
are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly
you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by
the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of
flesh, that is, of the heart.
The Spirit, Not the Letter
4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are
sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but
our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of
the new covenant, not of the letter but of the [o]Spirit; for the letter
kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Glory of the New Covenant
7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was
glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face
of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing
away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if
the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness
exceeds much more in glory. 10 For even what was made glorious had no glory
in this respect, because of the glory that excels. 11 For if what is passing
away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
12 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech- 13
unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel
could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 14 But their
minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the
reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15
But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16
Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the
Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the
Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as
[p]by the Spirit of the Lord.
The Light of Christ's Gospel
4 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do
not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not
walking in craftiness nor [q]handling the word of God deceitfully, but by
manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in
the sight of God. 3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those
who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not
believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine on them. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. 6
For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has
shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.
Cast Down but Unconquered
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the
power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet
not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not
forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed- 10 always carrying about in the
body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be
manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for
Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal
flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.
13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written,
"I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak, 14
knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with
Jesus, and will present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes,
that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound
to the glory of God.
Seeing the Invisible
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing,
yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are
seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen
are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
